Repente Aleena 4.0 saddle

The Repente Aleena 4.0 is an innovative design that backs up its unique functionality with a beautiful design. It's very light and comfy in a race-saddle way, and the interchangeable covers allow you to modify the feel of your saddle without changing its position. You'll pay heartily for the privilege though.

• Pros: Beautifully made, comfortable, light, configurable
• Cons: Expensive, small parts can be lost

The main news here is the Repente Locking System. Repente saddles are modular, with a separate base and cover. The base is made in an autoclave (a pressurised oven) and it's almost entirely T700 carbon fibre; it has carbon rails and a wide central channel, connected at the nose and the tail. The only bits of the base that aren't carbon are the three alloy mounting points for the cover, which has three corresponding alloy pins. You poke the pins through and secure in place with a small clip. There's a rubber O-ring between the base and the cover for a bit of extra cushioning over and above what the base and cover provide.

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First things first: goodness, this is a lovely thing. Sometimes when you get a really expensive bit of kit it's difficult to see where the money's gone, but not here: the base is a sublime piece of design and craftmanship, and both that and the cover are beautifully finished.

'Marvel at the smoothness and lightness of the best carbon fibre composites,' says Repente. And I did. I know, I'm getting misty-eyed over a saddle. I should have a word with myself. Anyway, Repente is confident enough of its craftsmanship to offer a four-year guarantee.

The covers are interchangeable, and at the moment there are three, of which I've tried two. The lightest of the three is the Aleena 4.0, which apes the split design of the base but without the bar at the back tying the two halves together. The base and the cover together as a saddle weigh in at an impressive 130g. It measures 142x260mm (276mm to the back of the base bar).

For an extra 5g you can swap the Aleena 4.0 for the Comptus 4.0, which is the same shape and padding but without the cutaway, and the Kuma 4.0 is a solid design that's more heavily padded. Even then, it's still only 145g which is easily in super-light territory. We haven't tested many saddles lighter than the Aleena 4.0 (although there are some really light ones out there – this one from Selle Italia, for example), but at not much under £300 it's certainly an expensive way of dropping some grams. Your stock saddle is probably 250-300g, so as a ballpark it's a couple of quid for every gram saved.

The shape, says Repente, is 'based on an average human build'. It's neither unusually flat nor unusually curved in profile, and is slightly shorter than average in length. 'This will help you feel more comfortable in the saddle and to move with the greatest ease from the sitting to the sprinting position and vice versa,' says Repente. It's not miles away from a Rapha Pro, or a Fabric Scoop Flat in terms of overall shape. Changing the cover can add padding (Kuma) or fill in the cutaway (Comptus) but the basic shape is very similar whatever the cover, as it has to fit on the same base.

Changing from one cover to another is pretty trivial: unclip the clips, lose one down the gaps in your decking (I only did that once, and there are spares in the box), fit another one and re-clip. It takes about a minute. It's easier if the bike's in a workstand and tilted vertically, but you can do it in the shed at a push. There are five designs in each of the three covers, but they don't stray far from the mainstream: white or black, with highlights of a contrasting colour (white, black or red). You should be able to find one that matches your steed well enough, though, assuming you're not running orange bar tape or something.

All the talk of the Aleena's good looks and charm would be neither here nor there if the Repente didn't work as a saddle, but it works very well.

The base has been designed to offer a bit of flex, controlled by the bridge at the rear, and when you concentrate on your sit bones you can feel a little of that mobility when you're riding along. Most of the time you won't be concentrating on your sit bones though, unless your sit bones are hurting. And that wasn't the case for me here: even though the padding on the Aleena (and the Comptus, which I also rode) is pretty thin the Repente didn't ever feel uncomfortable.

It's not a sofa: it's fairly firm in feel, but for a race saddle it's plenty comfortable enough for some long rides. I did a couple of pretty long days (120km+) on the bike with the Aleena fitted, and save for a brief thought about the firmness when I first set off I didn't really think about the saddle much at all. That's what you're looking for in a seat, really.

> Buyer's Guide: 10 of the best high-performance saddles

There's a 60-day money back guarantee from Repente if you buy one of these saddles and you're not happy with it. I'm certainly happy with mine. Okay it's a pretty expensive way of getting some seating real estate on your bike but it's supremely light and pretty comfortable, with the option to have more than one seating option available without swapping out the base, or you can swap your chosen cover between bases on different bikes.

The Repente is certainly Sunday best equipment, but performance is good and weight is exceptional. If you have the pockets for it and you want to treat yourself, I can recommend it.

Verdict

Beautifully made and super-light race saddle that's a comfortable, if firm, companion on fast rides